by Roger Yu, USA TODAY

by Roger Yu, USA TODAY

Cutting the cable-TV cord just got a little easier for some consumers.

In a blow to major TV broadcasters, a federal appeals court ruled Monday that start-up Aereo can continue to stream live local TV through its website and app.

The decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York, affirms an earlier ruling that Aereo doesn't violate broadcasters' copyrights in airing programs over the Internet from its farm of mini-antennas in Brooklyn.

Consumer groups applauded the decision because it ushers in greater flexibility in choosing TV shows without paying a hefty cable bill. However, it also signals that more legal fights will likely be waged by broadcasters eager to hold on to advertising revenues and retransmission fees that cable companies pay to carry their channels.

Backed by Barry Diller's IAC InterActive, Aereo enables subscribers to stream live broadcast content from local stations -- including the networks, public television and Spanish-language channels -- on their desktop computers, tablets or smartphones.

Each subscriber leases a small Aereo antenna that's stored in the company's warehouse, a point that Aereo emphasizes in differentiating its service from other streaming companies. The antenna receives the TV signal, and subscribers can view or record content through Aereo's streaming technology, which requires an Internet connection. Subscription fees range from $1 a day to $80 a year.

Streaming is available only in areas where Aereo operates. In February, Aereo expanded its service from the five boroughs in New York City to 24 more counties across nearby states.

The lawsuit's plaintiffs -- including ABC, CBS, NBCUniversal, Telemundo and Public Broadcasting Service -- sued Aereo last year in federal court, asking for an injunction barring the company from transmitting programs because it lacks the proper license.

The district court denied the motion. While public performances of TV stations' content would infringe on their copyrights, Aereo argued that transmissions from its antennas that are individually leased to subscribers is equivalent to "a private performance."

The National Association of Broadcasters, an industry group representing TV networks, said it was "disappointed" by the decision, and sided with the dissenting opinion issued by Judge Denny Chin.

Calling Aereo's technology "a sham," Chin wrote that Aereo has no reason to use a multitude of tiny individual antennas rather than one central antenna. "The system is a Rube Goldberg-like contrivance, over-engineered in an attempt to avoid the reach of the Copyright Act and to take advantage of a perceived loophole in the law," he wrote.

Dennis Wharton, the NAB's executive vice president of communications, said the NAB will confer with members and "will be evaluating the opinions and options going forward."

John Bergmayer, an attorney at technology consumer interest group Public Knowledge, said the copyright law favors Aereo even if its service threatens TV networks' revenue.

TV broadcasters fear that cable companies may use a similar technology to plant an antenna in their set-top boxes and deliver local TV to their customers -- avoiding the payment of retransmission fees.

The decision "doesn't screw up the copyright law just to get a result some people want," he said. "Copyright holders don't have the right to control private performance. We all agree that people are allowed to buy an antenna."

"We always thought our Aereo platform was permissible, and I'm glad the court has denied the injunction. Now, we'll build out the rest of the U.S.," Diller said in a statement.

Aereo has plans to introduce its service this year to 22 markets, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston and Washington, D.C.